Month: January 2011 (Page 6 of 20)

Don’t turn around, the musical biopic you were undoubtedly waiting for…

With all the great and at least slightly tragic musical figures who have earned the biopic treatment who could be next? Who could follow such deserving figures as Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Al Jolson, Jim Morrison, Ian Dury, Glen Miller, Gene Krupa, Edith Piaf, Bob Dylan, Serge Gainsbourg, and, of course, Dewey Cox? Marvin Gaye? Jacques Brel? Joni Mitchell? Jimi Hendrix, for crying out loud?

Nope, why make just another flick about a genius who forever changed the face of contemporary music when you give the world the world story of the man without whom there would be no “Der Kommisar” and or “Rock Me, Amadeus.” Ladies and gentlemen, direct from Austria and the year 2008 — sometimes it takes a while for good things to make it stateside — I present “Falco – Verdammt, wir leben noch!” (“Falco – Damn, We’re Still Alive”). Forgive the lack of subtitles, but I’m feeling like we get the gist.

H/t to Christopher Stipp of /Film.

Okay, it should be mentioned that Falco was, in fact, the most famous German language pop artist internationally, at least that I can think of right now. Also, I sort of liked “Der Kommisar” back in the day. “Rock Me, Amadeus” never did it for (for that matter, neither did “Amadeus”). Also, I believe that my first ever paying writing assignment was writing a review of the worldwide-hit free album Herr Falco made betweeen “Der Kommisar” and “Rock Me Amadeus.” If memory serves, I think I gave it a C+ or, perhaps feeling a bit generous, a B-. Shades of things to come.

Special bonus video after the flip.

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“Yogi Bear” alternate ending

I don’t think this slight alteration to “Yogi Bear” would have flown as well with the kids, but it does have more heft to it.

Yes, it’s “The Assassination of Yogi Bear by the Coward Boo Boo” in case you weren’t sure of the reference. I’ve been meaning to run this one for awhile and was just reminded.

Musical movie moments with Clint and Alfred

With the media and political world reeling from the news of Keith Olbermann’s sudden departure from MSNBC and its possible relation to the Comcast-NBC/Universal merger, the Sundance Film Festival starting up, and even the start of Roger Ebert’s new movie reviewing series featuring a veteran critic and a 24 year old blogger who writes for the terrific MUBI site, there’s simply an overwhelming number of things I could be writing about tonight.

However, two movie news items in particular have caught my eye and the link is music and film, though that may not be immediately obvious. First is word that Sacha Gervasi, director of the highly acclaimed comic documentary “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” may be directing a new film about the making of “Psycho” and that Anthony Hopkins may play director Alfred Hitchcock. (The actual terminology at THR is that they are “in talks” to join the film, which I take it is closer to actually working on something that either “eying” or “circling” a project.)

The second is that Clint Eastwood’s next project will be, fascinatingly, the latest version of “A Star is Born,” which will feature Beyoncé Knowles in the lead role. The musical-drama classic might seem like an odd choice, but Eastwood is a serious music fan and he’s even made a rather good musical biopic, “Bird.”

In fact, his debut as a director owed a little something to Alfred Hitchcock and a lot to jazz. I don’t know who edited this video — or why they included subtitles, but this is worth a moment of your time and definitely emphasizes Eastwood’s musical choices. Also, if you thought Jessica Walter was formidable as Lucille Bluth in “Arrested Development” wait until you see her a few decades prior as the spurned antagonist of a swingin’ jazz DJ in Eastwood 1971 directorial debut, “Play Misty for Me.”

Music, of course, played a huge role in “Psycho” and in all of Hitchcock’s films, at least in terms of the way he thought about them. Take a look at this.

Friday night trailer: The officially official “Scream 4” trailer

“Scream 4” had a trailer that got pulled earlier this, but this one appears to be for realsies.

This looks kind of fun but also way too cute. I liked the “I’ll be right back” joke, but then I’ve never seen the point of repeating this movie idea — indeed, I’ve only actually seen the first one. (I sped through the opening scene with Drew Barrymore, because Wes Craven is a kind of genius and I’m a big fat cinema chicken sometimes).

H/t /Film, appropriately enough. Oh, and my favorite scary movies are probably “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Silence of the Lambs.” “The Haunting,” “The Innocents,” “The Bride of Frankenstein,” and “The Abominable Dr. Phibes” are all up there.

American Idol: more good stuff

Some folks might criticize “American Idol” for not replacing Simon Cowell with someone equally harsh, but after two nights of watching Steven Tyler and J-Lo in action, I have to admit I think the show is already much improved. Maybe that’s not because Simon left, but more because three judges are better than four, and because of Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres did not return. Here is a brief recap of last night’s New Orleans auditions…..

GOING TO HOLLYWOOD

First up was Jordan Dorsey, a 21 year old singer from the Bayou. This dude was shown in his day job giving piano lessons to a kid, and then he did a ridiculous version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” that blew away the judges and all of us watching. Definitely a kid worth keeping on our radar…..Sarah Sellers, who had some banter with Steven about her lips. I mean, there was more sexual tension in what they didn’t say than in what they did say. But she was good too, with a really nice soulful voice…..Jovany, a shipbuilder with Cuban roots, talked about how he loved J-Lo and also idolized her husband Marc Anthony, so you just knew he was going to suck. But he was awesome! Then he took his shirt off for J-Lo because he told his buddies at the shipyard he would, and Steven and Randy Jackson joined him. Ha!……Then Jacquelyn Dupree, from Mississippi, brought in pictures of Randy from high school, and Randy’s high school football coach! This show was beginning to get weird, but that was also funny and oddly heartwarming. Nevermind that Ms. Dupree had to be a stalker on some level to make all that happen, but she was good enough to get to Hollywood…..Brad Lowenstern was a 16 year old scrawny kid who said he got picked on a lot growing up. Uh-oh. But then, he started singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and just knocked it out of the park. Damn, looks are so deceiving sometimes……Jacee Beadeaux, a 15 year old pudgy, dorky kid, sang “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay,” and while he’s a bit green, he sang really, really well. Mrs. Mike commented that Simon would have hated this kid based on his looks and green-ness, and that’s so true, and exactly why the show will be better this year…..they closed with Paris Tassin, a 23 year old mom who has a special needs child that she almost didn’t have. But her daughter is doing well and Paris sang a song to her daughter and soared into Hollywood, making J-Lo cry along the way.

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